.jpg)
Romain's Expert Use of the Referee puts us in Front.
Sunday afternoon and the
visit of West Ham United to set Mary’s and a relatively decent opportunity for
us to break our run of four successive defeats. We are here on a Sunday because
David Moyes’ happy Hammers are playing in the Europa Conference League on
Thursdays, so they get the extra day to recover. The fact that they are in the
Europa Conference tells you that they are one of the better sides outside the
Super League 6 but it also tells you that most of the big players have played
only three days before.
We need all the advantages that we can get. West Ham didn’t
start the season particularly brilliantly and initially struggled for a goal,
never mind a point (sounds familiar) but now they appear to be up and running
and have steadily climbed the table once they got going. They are not one of
only three sides below us in the table - put it that way.
Over the past two seasons, West Ham have been a bit of a
struggle for us with Michail Antonio usually running riot and us getting
generally bullied off the pitch. Last year however, we got it sorted and after
a spirited 0-0 draw at St Mary’s, we won at the Dildo Bowl which was one of our
best performances of the season and we also won in the FA Cup at St Mary’s when
we put out what the time amounted to a reserve team. A major player in both of
those victories was Armando Broja who we have course, no longer have and
haven’t really replaced. There were plenty of stories linking West Ham with
Broja during the summer, which of course never happened and he stayed at
Chelsea. West Ham of course consoled themselves with signing Gianluca Scamacca
and the Italian is in a good run a form. They also added Lucas Paqueta to their
attacking midfield options which were already decent, with Bowen, Benrahma,
Fornals, Lanzini etc. I’m never too sure
about Soucek in midfield but of course they have Declan Rice who more than
makes up for Soucek’s occasional moments when he doesn’t even look like a
footballer. At the back they will be
boosted by not having signed Jan Bednarek, who they were rumoured to be
interested in.
David Moyes isn’t everyone’s cup of tea as a manager but he
is solid and consistent and knows what he wants his teams to do. He seems to deal
with the issues with Gold, Sullivan and Brady pretty well as well.
Yes, Ralph is still here and you wonder what he’s going to
throw at the wall in the hope of it working for today’s game. 4-2-2-2? 4-2-3-1?
Pressing? Sit in deep? Five at the back? Could be anything. Will he find the
correct combination in midfield and will we have some sort of potency to our
attacking play? With all this randomness going on, we could do with things
being quiet off the pitch but of course we managed to make the news again this
week.
Shields: Off You Fuck
In the summer, Saints made what seemed like a good
appointment when Joe Shields joined from Manchester City as Head of
Recruitment. In his first transfer window he of course was instrumental in
varying degrees in bringing in Gavin Bazunu, Romeo Lavia, Samuel Edozie and
Juan Larios from his former club and also His prints were all over the Joe
Aribo signing. Though it appears he had no involvement with the signing of
Armel Bella-Kotchap for example, the signs were good this was going to be a
fruitful partnership. That was until this week when it was leaked to the media
that he had been approached by Chelsea and that he wanted to leave.
If, as seems very likely, Shields leaked the information then
it’s very significant. As this was leaked this before the club knew about it,
it stands to reason that this is his way of operating which is probably why the
world knew about us signing the Manchester City lads before they were announced.
There was a reason that relatively unknown players were all over Fabrizio
Romano‘s radar and it just might be because our Head of Recruitment was leaking
so much, he needed a fucking nappy. It was Romano himself who broke the latest
leak about Chelsea. Maybe it was Chelsea who leaked it. Unlikely because they
wouldn’t want to antagonise Saints or Shields but Todd Boehly has already shown
himself to be a bull in a China shop and he seems the sort of guy who thinks he
can just do whatever he wants.
Also significant is when you consider the crass, verbal, £50
million bid from Chelsea for Romeo Lavia, which happened when we played them.
I’m putting two and two together here and wondering exactly how long our Head
of Recruitment has not really been acting in Southampton‘s best interests. Of
course, it all comes down to money and I have no problem with people leaving
their job for better money but it is something else when it clearly looks like
he has not even been putting Southampton first whilst he’s been our employee.
Off you fuck, you scumbag.
Anyway, after what will no doubt be a hefty period of
gardening leave, he will be on his way to Chelsea where I wish him massive
failure. Whilst he was here he could say to the young players that there was an
actual pathway through to the first team whereas at Chelsea, he’ll be pitching
“Come to Cobham and then get loaned out to the Dutch second division, then
maybe a Championship club and then if you’re lucky, play five minutes here in
there in the Carabao Cup for Chelsea”. He will have to prove himself outside of
his Manchester City network because City will be much more reluctant to sell to
Chelsea than they would be to Southampton.
Criticism of Saints for this from anyone, is merely jumping
on the bandwagon caused by poor results over the last six months and the
general feel-shit factor that’s manifested as a result. The way football works,
this would’ve happened even if we won our opening nine games of the season. The
way I see it is that the only way anything can be levelled at the club is that
we employed someone of very questionable professionalism and character. The
signs were actually there right from the start with his almost childlike
comments on his Instagram account. How many people in his position would put “Hope
I don’t get sacked soon LOLZ” in the public domain.
As anyone old enough to remember will tell you, this has
parallels with when Paul Mitchell left Saints and joined Spurs, taking with him
knowledge of every detail in Toby Alderweireld’s loan agreement and option to
buy between Saints and Atletico Madrid. Unsurprisingly, we got shafted at the
end of the loan deal and he joined Spurs. The career path of Romeo Lavia will
therefore be quite interesting from here on in and even though Shields will be
on gardening leave in January, expect more leaks and not just from Shields
garden hose.
Tinpot
Also worth a mention this week is the Hampshire Senior Cup
game where we travelled down to Fratton Park to play the Skates. As befits the
Hampshire Senior Cup, we sent a cross between the B team and the Under 18s,
managed by Dave Horseman and Pompey put out a team with 10 players who have
played League 1 football this season and not only that, Danny Cowley, the first
team manager, ran the side.
The one experienced player that we had, Olly Lancashire then
got himself sent off at the start the second half and a minute after that we
were unsurprisingly 4–0 down. It would of course been a bit grim if we lost by
seven or eight but the 10 boys rallied well and courtesy of a couple of goals
by Jimmy Jay Morgan, pulled it back to 4-2 with a certain nervousness spreading
around the ground as we outplayed them and very nearly scored a third. There
was also a bit of a men versus boys ruck on the pitch which kind of points to
them being slightly rattled.
Sadly, we couldn’t pull it back and the Skates scored a fifth
in the last minute. The Skates might have won the game and they will no doubt
have the glory of winning the Hampshire Senior Cup having achieved this giant
killing but I would say that Saints got a lot more out of it and the fact that
we are played them off the park for much of the second half with 10 players,
it’s probably a little bit embarrassing for them. If they manage to win this priority trophy this year, they'll move level with Andover's 6 wins and then have Ryde and Aldershot's 7 wins in their sights.
To be fair, I didn’t see too many Pompey fans giving it the
big one on social media but I also think there is absolutely no doubt that
Danny Cowley wanted to make absolutely sure that they didn’t lose this game and
after what happened when we last played them in a truly competitive game.
Back to today and there were a few hints during the week that
it was going to be an altered line-up with Ralph himself saying that from a
practice game that they had behind closed doors that identified a couple of
different players you could come and make a difference. That was clearly bullshit
because the starting lineup looked very familiar. Maitland Niles won the
midfield tombola to play next to JWP and the one notable change was that Elyounoussi
was back in in place of Stuart Armstrong. Other than that it was more or less
as you were.
I anticipated a 4-2-2-2 formation but as the game started it
became apparent that it was kind of 4-3-3 in possession and 4-1-4-1 out of
possession, with Maitland-Niles being the deepest lying midfielder and Aribo
and Adam Armstrong in the wide positions.
We had a go at letting a goal in straight away with Aribo
getting caught on the ball on the right hand side and the ball found its way to
Emerson and a swing of the left boot saw it go past the post by a couple of
feet. Our attacking game plan was simple and easy to spot and it was get the
ball out to Adams and let him battle for it against the makeshift West Ham central
defenders and the first time he did that he barged past Kehrer and knocked him
over but from an angle on the right hand side saw his shot hit the foot of
Fabiański and cleared away.
West Ham fans always been a vocal bunch and they decided to
scream every time KWP took a throw on the right hand side. Granted his throws
do look a little bit suspect at times but as far as I know he has never been
pinged for a foul throw. It is amusing
however when he takes the next throw and all the West Ham fans go up giving it
the big one. Adams hooks it infield,
Soucek has a big donkey swipe at it and plays a virtual airshot and the ball
goes in to the centre of the pitch where Perraud nicked it off Bowen and
smashes in a shot which deflects and skids away into the bottom corner of the
net. Fucking get in. West Ham are all around referee appealing for what I
assume is a foul throw which is laughable cause they’re really not gonna get
that. Turns out that they were actually appealing for the referee getting in the
way which is not in the rulebook, so shut up and get on with it.Chances are exchanged again soon after as the very dangerous looking Scamacca side foots inches wide of the far post and then Adams gets teed up cleverly by Adam Armstrong on the edge of the penalty area and hammers in a low left footed shot to Fabiański’s left, but one of the better keepers in the Premier League gets down well to put it wide of the post.
Oh Shit
There’s a blow about 10 minutes last time is Scamacca half
gets passed ABK, who goes sliding in to try and stop him but stays on the deck.
Scamacca plays on as he is perfectly entitled to do and crosses it and it’s met
by Paqeta who heads down and it flicks of the outside of the post. Thank fuck
for that. When the medical staff get on, it is apparent very quickly that he’s
not carrying on but he’s helped up by the medics and walked off the pitch with
what looks like an arm injury. At least
we have a decent player on the bench with Caleta-Car coming on.Half-time and a half-time lead. Whatever next? Maybe we won’t
fuck it the start the second half like we normally do and actually draw them
out as they get more desperate and start throwing players forward. That would
be nice. The alternative is what
happened though.
West Ham changed the formation of the start of the second
half and are playing with a flat back four and Moyes’ changes have changed the
momentum of the game and we suddenly look all over the place. AMN, who had a very good first half is now
looking a little bit tired and we can’t keep the ball. The first West Ham
chance sees Paqeta find himself in acres to take down Coufal’s cross and ping
it straight at Bazunu for a comfortable size. Then it’s Scamacca’s turn to meet a cross from Bowen and he
manages to improvise and effort with his knee which flies just over the bar. Matter
of time
And here we fucking go. Rice picks up the ball on the left-hand side,
plays a 1-2 with Benrahma around JWP and picks the ball up about 25 yards out
with no one really closing him down. I have a premonition that this is ending
up in the bottom corner before he even shoots and it’s a shame no Saints
defender does. He takes another step
and curls easily into the far bottom corner giving Baz absolutely no chance
whatsoever. Fuck it. Good goal and not surprised at all.
Now we really gone to shit and the otherwise excellent Salisu
gives the ball away in midfield and West Ham work it up to Paqeta on the edge
of the box and Caleta-Car blocks the first shot and then KWP throws himself in
the way of the follow up.
It looks like Lyanco is ready to come on but he suddenly sits
down in a few more minutes goes by and with 15 left we seem to have four
substitutes ready to come on. I’m thinking this looks slightly desperate for
the manager and it looks on the face of it like it’s all like for like changes.
Aribo and Adams, two of our more physical players have gone off and been
replaced with the lightweights Edozie and Mara. With the enforced substitution
in the first half, we have now changed half of the outfield players and
Elyounoussi is still on the pitch. What a time to be alive.
The splurge of changes does seem to have give us a bit more
energy and Edozie does manage to get a shot in straight at the keeper. West Ham
seem to settle for a point and the three minutes extra is played out without
much alarm at either end.
Strange game.
You could argue that we should’ve scored more than one goal
in the first half with Che Adams being guilty of missing chances again but then
you could argue that the four shots that West Ham had that flashed 6 inches
wide of the post could’ve meant an entirely different half-time outcome. The
start of the second half was once again absolutely fucking shit and it was just
a matter of time before West Ham scored.
There was such an inevitability about Declan Rice scoring
once he picked up that return pass. It was almost like I’d shut my eyes and
dreamt it - it was that obvious.
With the game slipping away and it seeming like just a matter
a timer for West Ham scored a second, came the quadruple substitution. I have
two views on this. One is that it was done exactly the right time to wrestle
back some of the initiative that had been lost in the second half but it did
strike me as a manager who basically didn’t know what to do - so he did
everything. Making four like-for-like changes at the same time is on the face
of it, fucking mental because all you’re doing is replacing the first choices
with the second choices. There
was more energy I guess.Edozie coming on for Adam Armstrong was fine, as was Diallo coming on for the clearly tiring Maitland-Niles. Taking Che Adams off was absolutely fucking ridiculous because that was all we had as an attacking plan and he was doing really well against the makeshift central defensive pairing of Kehrer and Johnson. Suddenly, we looked ridiculously lightweight and when you look at the fact that Joe Aribo went off as well, I was surprised we didn’t concede from one of the many set pieces that West Ham had. I think most of us would’ve taken a draw at the start but I can’t help but feel disappointed, having done the hard work and got in front.
That was bad news of course with ABK‘s injury, which has been confirmed as a dislocated shoulder so he could be out for a while and it probably puts his World Cup place under threat. Whilst we have Caleta-Car to step in, he doesn’t look as quick or as dynamic as the injured ABK. At least though, we have a player who is pretty decent to step in in that position and everyone knows how hard it’s been to replace Romeo Lavia. It didn’t stop Ralph throw Caleta-Car under the bus in the post-match press conference - him and a few other players in what is a sure sign that the manager is feeling the heat. David Moyes in the meantime just moaned about the referee getting in the way for our goal but ironically, he didn’t say anything about the ball hitting the referee just before Declan Rice scored. If David bothered it check the Laws of the game, he will see if the referee gets in the way and doesn’t touch the ball, the game carries on but if the referee actually gets hit by the ball, the game is supposed to stop.
David Gets the Message That He Doesn't Know the Rules
I’ve seen today described as a stay of execution for the
Ralph and that’s probably just about right. He will hang on and should have to
win at Bournemouth in our next game but I’m struggling to see how this team
beats anybody at the moment. If our
opposition can deal with a long ball up to the centre-forward then we have
nothing much else to offer. Defensively we were sound again today but still
didn’t keep that elusive clean sheet and apparently, we’re the only team in the
league without one now. Despite their
recent run of points against poor opposition, Bournemouth should be there for
the taking on Wednesday but they will see us as another bottom half Premier
League team they can get points from. Nothing less than a Saints win it’s going
to take any pressure off of the manager.
إرسال تعليق